fandomtownies | The Boards - Tuesday - CASTING

"It's not a waste if it's information you need to know," he pointed out placidly, "and I don't have anywhere to go."

"But I do," Turtle informed him importantly, shaking her head slightly. Didn't he know who she was? She sighed and explained further, "Look, I understand why you'd want us to have read the script once we're cast, and I'll do that, but I don't see the point in wasting precious rehearsal time on what I should be doing in my own time, you know? And I would have prepared something, but I thought I'd let you pick it because I probably would have just recited the Declaration of Independence, and you have a better idea of what would show my....actory qualities than I would. Also, letting you pick shows that I'm flexible," really, "and that I can handle a situation when it's just thrust upon me, you see?"

"Because," he said, slowly, almost carefully, "it says something about your actory qualities.

"You came in here, asking for a part. You seem to know the roles somewhat, so I'm assuming you gave the play a read. However, acting is not just reciting lines off a page."

He pointed to the text she'd just been reading.

"You can't act if you don't know what you're saying. If I can't see you act, then I can't cast you."

He considered the problem of explaining this for a moment.

"It would be like trying to put together a complex mechanism without even looking at the directions. No, really, this would be 'without even looking at the box to see what it's supposed to look like eventually'. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

Turtle rolled her eyes. "And I'm acting like I'm not feeling insulted by that. Of course I understand. But you didn't even give me a sample from the play. So I can't act as," she glanced down to make sure she got the name right, "Katarina. But I'm not going to be Katarina, am I? I'm going to be Ursula. And I did skim it; I just didn't read every last single detail or sit here trying to figure out the meaning of every single word. Your metaphor doesn't quite work, does it? I totally looked at the box. I just wanted to see if I could put it together myself without the help of the instructions first."

"And, I mean," Turtle added after a small pause to collect herself, "you're the one trying to put the pieces together before looking through all the pieces you have.

"You skimmed it so well you missed the point of what the speech said?" he asked her, one eyebrow raised.

"I'm sorry," Turtle said, shaking her head, "but when a monologue starts out with 'Fie, fie,' all bets are off. The brain, it just shuts down and all it can think is, 'SPEAK ENGLISH, DANG IT!' And, yes, sir, I know it is English, but come on. We gotta keep up with the times here. The language may be pretty, but just think about toilet facilities back then. That might say something."

He nodded to what she'd said, his lips and chin resting on his fingers as he bounced them thoughtfully.

"'The brain, it just shuts down and all I can think is SPEAK ENGLISH, DANG IT!'"

He spoke slowly and precisely, obviously thinking over the words before he looked up at her.

"Why do you think people go to the theatre, Turtle? What do you think is the point?"

Curious. Definitely not condescending. Condescending was for the ones well-mired in their own idiocy. Everyone else got 'thoughtful', 'curious', and occasionally 'annoyed', but he was only human.

Turtle sighed, taking a moment to rub her face with her free hand, and then she drew in a calming breath. Counted backwards from ten. Held out a hand.

"Okay," she said, "I understand that a lot of this theater stuff is really important to you, but honestly? I don't have time for this. I only wanted to look into this as something fun to do with Hoshi, but if this is what it's going to be like, this is not going to be fun, and I have way too many things to do regularly. I still wanted to get involved, though."

Another breath.

"So let me sing a different tune for you, Mister Tennant. I don't think I got a chance to introduce myself; my name is Turtle Wexler, and I co-own Turtle & Canary here in town. The second most successful business on this island. I'm also very independently wealthy on my own right, quite possibly one of the most independently wealthy sixteen year old in the world. If you let me have this part, I will agree to provide any funding you might want to help improve not only your production but the theater as a whole."

She paused. Blinked.

"Under the approval, of course, of a reasonable and realistic proposal."

"It's very pretty," he said, sounding very very tired, "but it's not my tune."

"While the offer is appreciated, and don't think it isn't, money is still money, I'm an artist not a fool... the role is not for sale.

"If you would like to give reading another try with a different monologue and if you would like to take part as Ursula, it's yours. No funding necessary."

He sat up.

"Otherwise, I will thank you for your time and effort and invite you to try out for the next production."

What a tool. Turtle was trying to decide whether or not she should even bother with this, or if she should decide to boycott the whole production because, really, the man had awful public relations here.

Boycotting would be awful hard, though, since she knew both Amber and G'Kar liked to get involved.

"Will this monologue actually be more directly relevant to my actual part?"

"That monologue was directly relevant to your part, because it was relevant to you. The actress. In the part."

He shook his head.

"That said, I'll pull up something a little less odious."

Turtle sighed, because she knew that after all of that, she couldn't give a good performance even if she tried, and just decided to level with Mister Tennant. Ultimately, she figured, Hoshi would understand.

"Mister Tennant," she said, "do you even want me in this play? Because if you don't, then I can turn around and leave and you don't have to worry about it anymore, because, quite frankly, I'm not feeling like this is a working relationship that will be beneficial to me, and this will be especially true if you don't even want me here. I think it's extremely unfair, though, for you to be so difficult with someone who just wants to be a part of what you do here. I'm really upset right now, and I can't put out a good performance when I feel like I want to cry. If this is what your rehearsals are like, I'm sorry, I don't want to do it. I wanted to do something fun, not something that made me feel bad because I'm not the world's best actress for a relatively small part."

"You asked me what theater meant, and why people might go to it, and I always thought that they went to it to have a good time. Clearly, I was very wrong, because that's the last thing I'm having right now."

He sighed. Deeply.

"Yes, Turtle, I would like you here. And yes, working on the play can be a fun and rewarding experience" though don't ask him what else it can be "but it's also challenging. It's a challenge to the actors and a challenge to the audience. There is no point when an actor's brain should be shut off when she's on stage and speaking a line."

He looked at her.

"I'm not trying to be difficult. I'm trying to make you think about what you're doing. And so far, you've resisted every step of the way."

"If you knew anything at all about me, Mister Tennant," Turtle said, trying to be respectful, "I always think about everything I do. I can actually pin-point the spots along the conversation where I've given you leeway. I didn't criticize your method of casting even though I wanted to. I let you choose what you wanted me to audition with and tried to get through as much of it as I could. I agreed to take the role of a character that didn't exactly fit my ideal option. I even offered you a compromise between our clearly different methods. Do not talk to me about resisting every step of the way, because the only one doing that here is you. Just because I struggle with Old English and can't quite get into a character within ten minutes of receiving a single monologue from a script does not make me bad actress, nor did I ever claim to be a particularly good one. I think you're a very foolish man if you expected me to be one the first time I ever set foot on a stage, so, for the love of God, give a girl a little room here."

Edited 2008-09-02 20:31 (UTC)

He rubbed his jaw for a moment, breathed in and out, and started going through a sonnet in his own head.

"I'm quoting your own words, Turtle. I can only go by what you show me on stage and what you say, and both of those pointing to you ignoring the text. Secondly, that is not old English, it's not even middle English.

"I didn't expect you to come in here and be the best actress I've ever seen, nor did I expect you to get deeply into character from a single monologue. What I did expect you to do was to look at what you were saying and give those words meaning."

Edited 2008-09-02 20:35 (UTC)

"...So, clearly, you've never heard of hyperbole?" Turtle asked, unable to avoid rolling her eyes again. Then she sighed. She did give the words meaning; they just weren't the meaning he expected.

"I did the best I could, Mister Tennant, and I'm sorry that it wasn't what you expected. Perhaps, though, you might consider that your expectations are a little high. I wish you luck in the rest of your casting and I hope it goes well." She gave him a nod and turned away; now that her back was turned, she could take a moment to run a thumb under her eye, threatening a tear, and reminded herself that not everyone was going to be welcoming and considerate and willing to work with her. It just made her so upset, though, that he made it all seem like she wasn't trying, like she wasn't willing to work with him, when she was. And she was way too upset to audition again, anyway.

He was the one arguing stupid semantics with a sixteen year old girl, anyway.

Edited 2008-09-02 20:46 (UTC)

"Thank you for coming by, Turtle," he said tiredly. He was disappointed that he didn't seem to be getting through, but you can't win them all.

"I hope to see you when we open. Or for the next set of auditions."

Turtle didn't respond until she was out of the door and, even then, it was just a snort. As far as she was concerned, after all of that, he was lucky if she ever set foot in that building again.

The Boards - Tuesday - CASTING - 9/02

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